Juneau assembly adopts Title 49 zoning updates to streamline accommodations and mapping

The City and Borough of Juneau assembly voted to adopt Ordinance 2025-40(b), the second phase of a multiwave rewrite of Title 49 of the land-use code. Acting manager summarized the package as creating a reasonable-accommodation process to ensure equal access to housing, updating subdivision rules for parcels adjacent to arterial streets, authorizing a digital official zoning map, and removing obsolete committee and program references.

Acting manager said the ordinance had gone through advisory review and that the planning commission had recommended several specific amendments (including updated definitions and limited references to the Federal Fair Housing Act). Joyce Van Sickle, a resident of Auke Bay, testified in favor of revisions to chapter 35 to make it easier to subdivide on arterials so land could be used to help a family member secure affordable housing.

Mister Brooks moved adoption and asked for unanimous consent. After clarifying that planning commission amendments had been integrated into the text, the assembly adopted Ordinance 2025-40(b) by unanimous consent.

What it means: The ordinance updates CBJ’s land-use code to streamline reasonable-accommodation requests (referencing federal fair-housing principles in the ordinance purpose), allows certain subdivisions adjacent to arterials to follow the underlying zoning district instead of default D-1 lot-size standards, and modernizes the official zoning map process by permitting a digital map and empowering the CDD director to make mapping changes reflecting natural land shifts.

Next steps: The ordinance is adopted and in effect according to the assembly’s action; staff will implement the updated procedures and mapping authority described in the ordinance.